Chimera
' |image= |series= |production=40510-564 |producer(s)= |story= |script= René Echevarria |director=Steve Posey |imdbref=tt0708517 |guests=J. G. Hertzler as Laas, John Eric Bentley as Klingon, Joel Goodness as Deputy, Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn |previous_production=Field of Fire |next_production=Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges |episode=DS9 S07E14 |airdate=17 February 1999 |previous_release=(DS9) Field of Fire (Overall) Dark Frontier |next_release=(DS9) Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang (Overall) The Disease |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2375) |previous_story=Latent Image |next_story=Bride of Chaotica! }} Summary While returning to Deep Space Nine, Odo and Chief O'Brien encounter another Changeling. This Changeling, like Odo, is one of the Hundred sent to explore the Alpha Quadrant. The Changeling, who calls himself Laas, has no knowledge of The Dominion or the Founders. He followed the runabout when he sensed Odo's presence, and is eager to learn more about their kind. On DS9, Dr. Bashir confirms that Laas is not a Founder, and Captain Sisko allows Laas the freedom of the station as long as he remains in Odo's custody. The two changelings discuss their past. Laas reveals that he does not trust humanoids (who he refers to as "monoforms"), but neither does he support the Founders' agenda, and just wishes to avoid humanoids. When the two share the Great Link, Odo reveals he too would have left human space, had he not fallen in love with Major Kira. As days pass, Laas attempts to convince Odo to embrace his Changeling heritage, and suggests they leave the station in order to find more of the Hundred and form their own Great Link. Odo is tempted, especially when Laas (who is much more apt at shapeshifting), helps him improve his skills. Matters are not helped, however, by Laas' disinterest in human friendship. Laas causes a disturbance on the Promenade when he transforms into a fog. Emergency crews are sent to deal with what they think is a life-support malfunction, and are angered when they learn the truth. The commotion draws the attention of two Klingon officers visiting the station. Seeing what they assume is a Founder, they attack Laas with knives. Laas' shapeshifting allows him to both defend against the attack and kill one of the Klingons. After news of the killing reaches Klingon High Command, they request that Laas be extradited to the Empire for trial. Kira, wanting to give Odo the opportunity to travel with his own, frees Laas and tells everyone that he escaped. Privately, she lets Odo know that Laas is waiting on Koralis III. Odo meets Laas on Koralis, but declines to leave with him. Odo tells Laas that he is wrong about the "solids" and that he is staying with Kira. Back on DS9, Odo shows his love and affection for Kira by transforming into a golden light, so that Kira can feel the closeness of the Great Link. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Murray Leeder on Monday, February 15, 1999 - 8:36 pm:''The performance of the external sensors of the runabout was underwhelming. Shouldn't it have detected Laas before it did? '''He may have been able to disguise himself as something that was already present.' # Why didn't the computer respond at all when Odo called for fire surpression? Laas could have damaged the audio reciever. # Laas is able to "sense" Odo inside the runabout. Is Starfleet even at all interested in this? After all, he could be very useful for ferreting out changeling infiltrators. Laas is prejudicied against solids, and therefore unlikely to help them. # Shane Tourtellotte on Saturday, February 20, 1999 - 6:21 pm: When Laas first arrives, he infiltrates into the runabout from the outside, emerging through a vent. This would mean there's a clear path from the air inside to the vacuum outside. This should cause what is known in technical terms as a Giant Sucking Sound -- in other words, decompression, asphyxiation, those sorts of things which are inconvenient to people breathing the air. Dan on Tuesday, February 23, 1999 - 7:50 pm: Everyone keeps wondering or saying it's impossible for Laas to go from space into the runabout at the start....why is it impossible? Didn't a shrunken Runabout manage to get inside the Defiant through some engine or something? Maybe that's how Laas got it.....don't ask me why you hear the bumping sound....guess he was just going through the systems to fast.... Adam Howarter on Tuesday, February 23, 1999 - 10:10 pm: It's impossible for Laas to go from space to the crew compartment of the runabout because if he could all the air in the runabout would be sucked (via that route) out into space. If he made a way (drilled?) to get to the crew compartment as soon as he breached the pressure hull the evacuating air would •••• him out with it. By the time he got back to the compartment O'Brien would be dead. Ryan Smith on Saturday, February 27, 1999 - 12:10 am: I'm a bit rusty on my physics, especially the properties of light, but if Odo could shapeshift into light for Kira's benefit at the end of the episode, couldn't Laas have done the same to enter the runabout in the beginning? Think about it. Laas changes into light and shines himself into the runabout's aft windows. Then he finds the environmental system and puddles his way through. It could work. Sophie Hawksworth on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 3:13 pm: Regarding Laas entering the Runabout, and a path to space causing the air to escape. There is such a thing as a one-way valve. It lets gas in, but not out. A practical purpose for this would be to feed air into the ship during a rescue or salvage operation. We need to ask, why doesn't it let in dangerous planet atmosphere? Well the valve could be automatically enabled in space and shut off in a dangerous atmosphere. More likely, Laas found a maintainance panel and ripped it off to access the valve. That's what the bumping noises were. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 2:38 am: Actually the Bussard Collectors are supposed to do precisely that. Perhaps Laas creeped in through a tiny aperture in the Collectors, and worked his way into the interior of the runabout. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine